Don’t give defeated leaders in state a back-door entry through Rajya Sabha, says Veeramani 

Congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet colleagues, DK president K Veeramani on Thursday equated the Rajya Sabha nomination of defeated leaders to serving ‘garbage’ on table and said the backdoor entry gained by defeated leaders through the upper house would amount to insulting democracy.

“Will the people with political wisdom not wonder if there was such paucity of knowledge (talent) in the front?” Veeramani asked, also appealing to the allies of BJP to set a healthy political tradition of not nominating defeated leaders.

Though Veeramani did not categorically refer to any political party or leader among the BJP allies, it was not difficult to comprehend from the statement that DK chief might be indirectly conveying a message to ally AIADMK, which has allowed the BJP to ride piggyback on it and which has promised a Rajya Sabha berth to the PMK.

“Parties that offered their votes and allowed (others) to ride piggyback should also create a healthy political tradition of not accepting the Rajya Sabha candidature of leaders defeated in elections,” Veeramani remarked.

Given the electoral understanding reached between the AIADMK and PMK for sharing a RS berth, as also the reports about defeated BJP leaders like Pon Radhakrishnan attempting to secure cabinet berth through upper house nomination in the state, it was obvious that the DK president wants the AIADMK to decline the candidature of defeated PMK (read as Anbumani Ramadoss) and state BJP seniors, if a request to that effect comes from them.

AIADMK is the only party in the BJP front in the state which can nominate members to the Rajya Sabha. Barely a few days ago, actor-politician Anand Raj, who quit the AIADMK recently, had publicly appealed to his erstwhile political bosses not to honour the promise of giving a Rajya Sabha berth to the PMK.

Unsurprisingly, the DK has also taken a dig at the BJP’s nexus with RSS and said the biggest concern and worry of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be the dual leadership at the Centre with the saffron group RSS calling the shots from Nagpur. “It is inevitable (for the BJP regime) to avoid the strange question of whether New Delhi or Nagpur was the capital,” Veeramani quipped. The aftermath of having dual power centres despite a resounding victory remains to be seen, he added.